Extend Your Start Menu Functionality With Vista Start Menu

Windows only: Vista Start Menu replaces the traditional Start menu on your desktop and present you a much easier and faster way to locate your files and applications. If you are always looking for ways to get things done faster, then this application might just be the one for you.

Although the application is name after Windows Vista, it is fully compatible with Windows 2000/XP as well. In case you are wondering, Vista Start Menu does not overwrite your existing start menu. It runs as a system tray on top of your start menu and you can easily exit the application to get back your traditional Start menu at any point of time.

For those who are used to the traditional Start menu, when you first run Vista Start Menu, you will no doubt be overwhelmed by the big window that covered almost 3/4 of the desktop. It might take you aback initially, but when you get used to it, you will find that it’s worth all the space.

The traditional WinXP Start menuVista Start Menu (Click to enlarge)

In the traditional Start menu, programs are arranged in the order that they are installed. A newly installed program will append an entry to the last of the program list. When you uninstall an application, its entry in the Start menu will be removed and all the entries underneath it will shift up to replace the empty slot. Now, if you are the kind who install and uninstall a lot of applications, very soon, you will find that locating an application in the Start menu has become a tedious task.

In Vista Start Menu, programs are arranged in alphabetical order. When you install a new application, it will be inserted into the program list according to its first alphabet.

In addition, when a program is allocated a position in the list, it will not change. If you uninstalled the application above it, instead of shifting the underneath entry up, it will show a empty space. The good thing is: the position of the application never change. When you remember the position of the application, you can locate it much faster. The bad thing is: if you uninstall a lot of applications, you will see pocket of empty spaces here and there, which could be unsightly. Luckily Vista start menu also provides a right-click function to delete all the empty spaces and rearrange the program list.

vista start menu empty space

Some other features of Vista Start menu

– Fully tweakable UI

You can change the skin, move the start menu to anywhere in the desktop, customize what to show up on your start menu and even shrink it to show a more compact view.

– One click power control button

Be it shutting down your PC or you just want to log off your existing session, you can easily control your PC power setting with just a single mouse click.

In the event that your PC is busy with a task, you can schedule it to turn off the PC at a later time.

– One click launch (only for PRO version)

The PRO version ($19.99) comes with an one-click launch function where you can use it to launch an application quickly. Rather than navigating to the sub-menu to display the main application, when you click on the folder in the top menu, Vista Start Menu will search through the folder list and open the main program in the folder.

For those who are looking to get things done faster and easier, Vista Start Menu can definitely help you achieve it.

The basic version is free for download while the PRO version costs $19.99.

@Trinity: Yes, it is an useful tool if you have installed a lot of applications. I did like the feature where the programs list is arranged in alphabetical order. It helps me to locate my application faster.